Club 80-90 Forums

Been looking to sell my van to get something more economical, but something has come up which has made me think twice.

I've been offered a swap of my 2.0 Aircooled lump for a ea82t with most of the bits i need apart from the coolant pipes,a fuel pump and a turbo. To say im tempted is an understatement, obviously its going to be a bit better than what i have now, it puts out either 111 or 115 bhp at 5200 rpm and 134lbs/ft at 2800rpm. But, will my gearbox be ok? its a '82 2.0 Aircooled lump with original box, think thats about the only concern i have but more may arise as time goes on...........

Thats the old 1.8 pushrod engine isnt it?? they were not that reliable when pushing the old GLF about... let alone 20 years on and stuck in the back of a 2.3 ton camper.....
Personally, unless you really are desperate I would stick with the 2L, give it a good going over and invest in a set of 40's and get it set up on a rolling road...

Going water cooled on an air cooled is quite a lot of work.. let alone using an obsolete engine that parts are prob much worse to get hold of...

Its a SOHC, parts are not an issue from what i have found, i may try to find out if i could fit a ej20 in future onto the same adapter as price of set up is reasonable. Im out of work atm and can do straight swap for this or do nothing, my engine isn't bad, its been rebuilt not long ago and pulls well for what it is, but 20mpg is not doing my small pockets any good going around looking/quoting for work. I've tried selling it on and getting a cheaper one to do up to get some money, but no good offers and i don't really want to get rid of it if i can help it, because i like it too much.

The EA and EJ series engines do not share a bell housing pattern. The EJ series pattern is the same as the EG (3.3 litre flat six) and EZ (3 litre flat six). In photo's they look almost identical, but the EJ / EG / EZ series pattern is basically a scaled up version of the EA design.